


Peer Review

by colorlessxjv



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-09 16:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12279900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colorlessxjv/pseuds/colorlessxjv
Summary: Sometimes, like today, he would write about a student without naming them. And today's target was Betty Cooper.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a bit of fluff. Un-beta'd and unedited, really.

Jughead can feel his heart sink into his stomach when the announcement is made.

 

_Peer review._

He never intended anyone to read what he's been working on, save for Mr. Ellison, the creative writing teacher at Riverdale High. And with the alarming number of jocks that signed up for creative writing as an "easy A" senior year elective, he sure as hell wasn't going to offer up his writing to his so-called peers.

 

So while jocks like Reggie Mantle busied themselves with articulating the experience of their first acid trip, Jughead had been quietly working on a series of short stories about the students of Riverdale High. Being an outsider made it easy for him. No one ever approached him, making him the quiet, weird observer in the corner of the room. 

 

Sometimes, like today, he would write about a student without naming them. And today's target was Betty Cooper.

 

She, too, was in creative writing 101, although Jughead suspected she hardly needed another elective on her transcript. She was intelligent, outspoken, and genuinely interested in writing, and for that, Jughead admired her...from afar of course.

 

True, they work together on the Blue & Gold. And occasionally got paired up for the odd Biology lab. But other than that, they don't interact outside of school. But she's always so soft and so kind to him, and when she meets his eye with her wide-eyed gaze, sometimes he feels like he's gotten punched in the gut. 

 

It is specifically for this reason that Jughead does not want to share this work with anyone. And  _God forbid_  if he gets paired with Betty herself. So when Mr. Ellison shares the student pairings over the projector, Jughead is white-knuckled, clutching the sides of his desk as his eyes scan down the list.

 

_Jughead Jones..._

_Archie Andrews._

***

 

This is, perhaps, worse than getting paired with Betty. 

 

Archie has already picked up his backpack and is heading to the back of the classroom where Jughead's sitting. When Archie approaches, he drops his backpack to the ground and grins broadly. 

 

"Sup, man??"

 

Jughead glowers and wordlessly tears the page of writing out of his spiral notebook. 

 

Archie ignores him and begins speaking again. "So I've been working on this for a week now and you've gotta tell me if it's any good...I haven't gotten any feedback from it yet so you're the first one to read it..."

 

He reaches into his letterman jacket to retrieve a folded piece of paper and slaps it on Jughead's desk. Jughead's eyes meet Archie's momentarily and he's a little taken aback to see the open, sincere look on the boy's face as he slowly unfolds the paper.

 

He's never had a problem with Archie personally, but from previous experience with jocks, Jughead hasn't gotten any impression that Archie is any different from the neanderthals he chooses to spend his time with. But as Jughead reads what Archie has written, his eyes widen with surprise.

 

"Archie...is this a  _song_?"

 

The redheaded boy hides his face, embarrassed. "Yeah," Archie mumbles.

 

The song, as far as Jughead can tell, is about a woman leaving. Although he isn't one for the emo singer-songwriter genre, he can tell Archie's song is deeply personal.

 

"I'm not the greatest writer, I know..." Archie slides the paper out of Jughead's hands and slips it back into his pocket. 

 

"Hey man," Jughead says resolutely, "I think it's really great. It seems to be something that you spent a lot of time on and it shows."

 

Archie's expression brightens at the praise. "Really? I mean, you think so? I think there are probably some better words I can use in some places but thanks, man! That means a lot coming from you." Archie looks at Jughead pensively, "You're alright, Jughead."

 

Jughead shrugs. He's never actually interacted with the football player before, but they've been in all the same classes. "I think you're alright too, man."

 

"So you got something for me to read?"

 

Jughead hesitates, but hands over the paper he ripped from his notebook, the story he wrote about Betty Cooper.

 

None of it was inappropriate. He wrote about sitting with a blonde girl with green eyes, laying in the grass, forgetting their worries. He wrote about a quiet moment of reprieve, about a few minutes of peace. In fact, he didn't even name her name...maybe Archie would never figure out...

 

" _Holy shit_  dude did you write about Betty Cooper?"

 

Jughead internally groans. "It's really not what you think..."

 

Archie's eyes are already sparkling with mischief. "Do you like her or something, man?"

 

"Like her? I've barely ever talked to her," Jughead scoffs.

 

"Well, I mean, would you like to?" Archie says excitedly, "She's my girlfriend's best friend."

 

He should have never given Archie his story. 

 

"I appreciate what you're trying to do here, but really, I have no interest. Let's just never talk about this and pretend you never read it."

 

"Awww come on Jug," Archie is now beaming, his expression exuberant, "I gotta help a brother out."

 

_Brother?_

"Archie..." Jughead closes his eyes, feeling himself get flustered, "I really don't want you to do anything. I just wrote a silly little story ok? Let's move on."

 

"Nah man," Archie is grinning, clutching Jughead's story in his hands, "I'm throwing a party Friday night and you're coming. Or else," Jughead watches helplessly as Archie shoves the paper into the other pocket of his letterman jacket, "I give this to Betty."

 

Jughead fights the urge to punch Archie in the face. He glances quickly at Betty Cooper, who is quietly giggling with Ethel Muggs in the front of the classroom. He concedes. 

 

"Fine. I'll go."

 

***

 

Archie requests that Jughead show up to his house early, so he does, and is immediately descended upon by Veronica Lodge. 

 

She looks at him up and down and declares "I can work with this," before shoving him upstairs into Archie's room, where she throws him a brand new blue button up and demands that he change. Considering he's never even talked to Veronica before, he finds it odd that she happened to know exactly what size he was. 

 

"Hey man, I don't know how she does it," Archie says when Jughead asks. He's wearing the blue shirt Veronica gave him, and begrudgingly admits it looks good. Veronica had looked extremely self-satisfied when he came downstairs to meet them in the kitchen, before she went upstairs to get ready herself. 

 

"I just told her you were coming to sweep Betty off of her feet and she did the rest."

 

Jughead rolls his eyes. "How are you so sure that this is even going to end the way you expect it to?"

 

Archie waggles his eyebrows, "I just know, man. You're kind of Betty's type." 

 

_What?_

Throughout all of his years at Riverdale High, he has never really had an inclination for what type of man might be Betty Cooper's type. She hardly goes out on dates (the curse of having overly restrictive parents), but she also never flirts with the football players at her locker either. He would have noticed. 

 

While Jughead is absorbing this revelation, Archie hands him a beer.

 

"No time like the present to get the party started, right?" he says, opening his own can. "Besides, Veronica is going to take at least an hour to get ready and I can use some company until people start coming in."

 

Jughead and Archie share their drinks in companionable silence, until Jughead breaks it.

 

"Hey man," he begins, rubbing the back of his neck, "About your song..."

 

If Archie is surprised, he doesn't show it. "Yeah? What about it?"

 

"What was it about, if you don't mind me asking?"

 

Archie clears his throat and sets down his beer on the counter. "My mom. My parents split last year," he says calmly, as if he knew this question was going to be asked. "That's where my dad is right now, actually. Finally signing the divorce papers."

 

Jughead lets out a sharp exhale. "I'm sorry..."

 

"No it's fine," Archie sighs. "I've had a long time to think about it and the writing has really been helping me. Thinking about turning words into music has really helped me."

 

Jughead nods, taking a large gulp of beer. "My parents split when I was a kid," Jughead says, after a moment. Archie's eyebrows raise. "I started writing those short stories shortly afterwards to get away from it all."

 

Archie chuckles, shaking his head slightly. "We're more alike than I originally thought."

 

***

 

An hour later the party is in full swing.

 

The sheer number of people at the party made Jughead feel a bit nervous, so after accepting another beer from Archie, he retreated into the backyard, where the chilly Autumn air has deterred the party goers. 

 

He's sitting on the love seat on the deck when she finds him.

 

He had been composing a short story for Archie in his head, lost in his thoughts, when she quietly asks him, "Can I join you?" 

 

She's looking at him with her soft eyes and he can't say no to her, so she sits and the air suddenly feels heavier. 

 

"Never thought you were much of a party goer," she says.

 

He snorts, "I'm not usually. I got roped into it by Archie."

 

"I didn't realize you guys were friends."

 

"We aren't..." he begins, but that feels wrong to say, so he corrects himself. "Or rather, we weren't. We hit it off in that creative writing class." 

 

"Ah yes," Betty looks down at her hands, folded in her lap, "the creative writing class."

 

She's looking intently at her hands, and Jughead swallows. Does she know? 

 

"Betty..."

 

"I read it," she looks up and meets his gaze. "The story you wrote. Veronica told me about it so I bothered Archie until he gave it to me." 

 

All of the saliva in his mouth has evaporated. He can feel the back of his neck burning, the edges of blush beginning to spread to his cheeks. 

 

"I..."

 

"I really liked it," she interrupts, one of her hands covering his. "In fact..."

 

Her gaze has now dropped to his lips, but she hesitates, as if fighting an internal war. At some point, Jughead becomes aware of his clammy hand in hers, and finds his voice to utter a single, "What?"

 

Her eyes snap up to meet his and he sees steely resolve in them. In fact, that's the last thing he registers seeing before Betty Cooper's soft lips meet his. 

 

***

 

When they walk back into the party together, hand in hand, Jughead notices Archie and Veronica first, both with matching shit-eating grins on their faces, Archie flashing a thumbs up.

 

Betty squeezes his hand and smiles up at him, in that soft, somewhat flirty way she sometimes does when they're alone at the Blue & Gold office together. 

 

Even Jughead has to smile. For all those times he played the quiet observer, he never noticed that there was someone watching him back. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kudos and comments. I realized there wasn't much of Betty in the last chapter, so I decided to write the short story Jughead wrote (in italics) with some more Vixen Betty and Oblivious Jughead thrown in there to flesh out the story. As a brand new writer, I feel so encouraged to continue with your support so thank you thank you thank you. I may take on the endeavor of a multi-part fic soon so please keep an eye out and send encouraging words/ prompts to my tumblr [colorlessxjv].

_Her blonde hair feels like sunshine._

_The breeze swirls her hair into my face, the silken strands caressing my cheeks like a whisper on the skin, the clean smell of her shampoo almost intoxicating._

_Everything about her is bright bright bright._

 

***

 

She's been doing this thing lately where the direction of her gaze will somehow focus in on him. 

 

He knows that she thinks he doesn't notice, but to be fair, she's not as sneaky as she thinks she is. She's been acting weird lately, but Jughead just assumes that it has something to do with Veronica Lodge, her arrival into town, and her quick declaration of Betty as her best friend. 

 

And part of that too, is that Betty had recently made it onto the River Vixens. The first time she had walked into the Blue & Gold office in her uniform, Jughead had barely hid his groan at her long, pale legs underneath that short, swingy skirt, at how she leaned over Ethel Mugg's desk so that her skirt rose a precarious inch so that he could almost see the blue and gold bloomers underneath. Despite this new development, Betty remains the sweet, ambitious girl that he's always known. 

 

Still, she's been acting differently. The looks she throws him sometimes are almost flirty, and when she sets a hand on his arm while she's talking to him, she lets her touch linger a beat longer than it usually does. She must be practicing on him for when some football player notices the new Vixen recruit. 

 

***

 

_The cool blades of grass below my back contrast with the sun-warmed strands of hair on my face. We don't speak, finding solace in this moment._

_The sky seems bluer and so much larger than it usually does. The hill that we've made our sanctuary on is spotted with the yellow and orange wildflowers of the summer._

***

 

"Hey Jug?"

 

She grabs his arm as he's walking past her locker. He definitely didn't need to take this route to get to his next class, but he knowingly did so, just so he could sneak another peek of Betty Cooper in the short, pink skirt that she decided to wear today. 

 

The skirt in question isn't scandalous by any means, but it's outside of Betty's usual wardrobe of jeans and conservative cardigan. And anything out of the ordinary, Jughead takes upon himself, as a journalist of the Blue & Gold, to investigate thoroughly.

 

" _Sure, Jug_ ", he thinks to himself.

 

"What's up, Betts?"

 

Her eyes are impossibly green as she looks up at him, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. 

 

"I was hoping to go over the next week's issue with you for a bit. I could use your editorial opinion..."

 

She trails off, as if there were something else she wanted to say, but decided against it midway. Her gaze flickers to his lips briefly but she meets his eye again and smiles. He shrugs and allows her to drag him into the empty Blue & Gold office, where she sits down at her usual desk and boots up her laptop. 

 

***

_When her hair caresses my face again, I reach out to touch it, and I tangle my fingers in their warmth. She lets me crown her with flowers, bright bright bright, and as I weave the blooms through her hair, her eyes are as deep as the sky._

 

***

She pulls up the yet-to-be-published Blue & Gold, and Jughead begins to help her reformat the front page. She angles her chair toward him as he stands crouched over the laptop screen, pointing out his opinion on where each article should go. She leans in towards him as he talks and Jughead can feel her presence on the border where his personal space lies. She's close, so close, but not quite touching, not quite leaned into him all the way, and every part of him is so completely occupied by Betty Cooper. 

 

"So where do you want to put the Homecoming announcement?"

 

Jughead blinks. Right. Homecoming. It was just around the corner and the Homecoming committee had asked that a small feature be published on the front page announcing ticket sales. 

 

"Top right corner. That way, it's one of the first things people will see without compromising our front page story," he responds.

 

Betty nods, her blonde ponytail bobbing, and she makes the necessary edits to the page. 

 

"Are you going, by the way?" she asks, her voice casual.

 

"Me? A school dance? I thought you knew me better than that, Cooper," he retorts.

 

She turns to face him completely now, and he's taken aback at how closely they've unknowingly leaned into each other. He swears she can hear his heart beat.

 

"Jughead. It's our last Homecoming," she says, her eyes meeting his.

 

He shrugs, "I don't know. Maybe. Are you?"

 

She looks down at her hands, twisted in her lap, but then flickers her gaze up at him through her long lashes. "I think I would, if I had a date..."

 

Jughead is suddenly lost for words. Is she...?

 

They're both leaning towards each other now, so close he can almost feel her breath on his face...

 

And then the bell rings.

 

They fly apart, and Betty blinks up at Jughead. 

 

"Creative writing, right? With Ellison?"

 

Jughead nods wordlessly. Betty closes her laptop and rises from her seat. 

 

"C'mon. We can walk together."

 

***

 

_Our hands fumble towards each other before finding purchase; her touch shines a light into the corner of my world. And with her head on my chest, my hands in her hair, I am Icarus, flying too close to the sun._


End file.
